Quality improvement
At the Mater Hospital, we are fully committed to continuously improving the quality of services that we deliver to our patients and their families.
Knowing how we are doing
On our wards you will see noticeboards called "Knowing how and what we are doing". These boards highlight the improvement initiatives that are ongoing and display information on how we are performing in relation to various aspects of care.
The boards were introduced to improve how we share information with patients and visitors and to showcase the ward's commitment to improving care.
The boards also help to empower staff to take an active role in quality improvement initiatives. Staff can see up to date, hard data about how we are doing - and this helps to motivate us by verifying that things are improving or flagging when they are not.
Preventing falls
Falls and fall related injuries are the second leading cause of accidental or unintentional injury deaths worldwide. Falls are also the most commonly reported incident in the Health Service Executive (HSE).
Inpatient falls can result in serious injury, a prolonged hospital stay and significant cost implications for the healthcare system. For example, the cost of inpatient hip fracture care in the HSE is estimated to be in excess of €50 million annually.
There are also psychological and social aspects from falling. Many people although not injured, may develop a fear of falling which can lead to decreased mobility. People may then reduce activities to lower the risk of falling. However limiting activity leads to muscle weakness, problems with gait (the way you walk) and balance. Reducing activity therefore, increases the risk of falling further. Fear of falling can also lead to social isolation as people may fear going outside in case they fall.
The Mater Hospital has an extensive Falls Prevention Programme overseen by an active Falls Steering Committee. As an inpatient, you should expect to be assessed for your risk of falls and subsequently, interventions put in place if specific risk factors have been identified for you. This will be discussed with you with the aim of preventing/reducing subsequent falls.
The Mater Hospital offers an expert multidisciplinary environment to identify, reduce or treat underlying causes of our patient’s risks for falls. Our aims are to prevent harm from falls, to reduce the number of falls of patients who are at risk and ultimately to improve patients quality of life.
Hospice Friendly Hospitals programme
End of life care is an experience that touches the lives of everyone on a personal or professional level. 43% of all people that will die in Ireland this year will die in adult acute hospital settings. We believe that all patients who die in our care should live well to the end. The Hospice Friendly Hospice Initiative was set up to ensure that we deliver on this.
Through the programme, we aim to provide patients and their families with a seamless experience of care in hospital at a difficult time in their lives. Some examples of how the programme achieves this includes:
- Providing training to our staff on all how to enhance care at end of life
- Providing more single rooms for patients who are at the end of their life
- Enhancing the environment on our wards by having family rooms and family suites for greater peace and comfort for our patients and their families at this time
- Conducting research into the experiences of bereaved relatives. This large scale study is called VOICES MaJam with our academic partner UCD, and colleagues in St James Hospital and Trinity College Dublin.
Find out more information on our end of life care quality improvement programme.
National Patient Experience Survey
The National Patient Experience Survey is an annual nationwide survey asking patients for feedback about their stay in hospital. The survey is a partnership between the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the Department of Health. All patients aged 16 and over discharged each May, who spend 24 hours or more in a public acute hospital and have a postal address in the Republic of Ireland are asked to complete the survey.
The Mater Misericordiae University Hospital (MMUH) welcome the National Patient Experience Survey.
Thank you to all of our patients who participated in this survey to date, we appreciate and value your feedback.
To view the MMUH National Patient Experience Survey reports please see the National Patient Experience website here.
The Mater Hospital Inpatient Experience Survey
The Mater Hospital is conducting a survey for our patients, which is supported by the National Inpatient Experience Survey.
The survey includes questions about your experience as a patient of the ward environment, your care and treatment, your interaction with our staff and your discharge from hospital.The results of the survey will help us to understand what we are doing well and what needs to be improved.
For more information see our Mater Hospital Inpatient Experience Survey page here
Unannounced monitoring assessment - Quality Improvement Plan 2019
We have published our quality improvement plan in response to the unannounced monitoring assessment by HIQA (Health Information & Quality Authority) on 28 March 2019 for the National Standards for the Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infections.
For more information on our inspection reports please see HIQA's website here.
Board on Board Project
High performing hospitals all have one thing in common: an effective and active Board of Directors that is fully engaged with quality improvement and takes a decisive role in improving delivery of quality care in hospitals.
In 2014, to enhance the role of our Board of Directors in leading quality improvement, in we undertook the 'Mater Board on Board project' in collaboration with the HSE. This project was the first of its kind in Ireland.
This project has helped provide our Board with practical tools and skills to assume greater responsibility for, and strengthen its impact on, quality improvement initiatives in the hospital. One example is the introduction of a Board of Directors’ Quality Dashboard. This is a spreadsheet that provides clear information on how the hospital is performing in relation to a set of quality of clinical care indicators. It ensures that the board members can see the right information, in the right way to improve their knowledge and understanding of quality of clinical care provided in the hospital.
To read more about this project, download the HSE's case report on the Board on Board project.
Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio 2015: Statistical Outlier Report
Our Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio 2015: Statistical Outlier Report is as a result of our engagement with the National Office for clinical audit (NOCA) and the National Hospital Mortality Audit. Mater Misericordiae University Hospital was a statistical outlier for the full year 2015 data for COPD/Bronchiectasis and we undertook a complete interrogation of the data to include a consultant-led clinical review of healthcare records. We have produced a report to share our learning with other institutions.